Our £60k nip & tuck bodies

Carole Wild, 52, and Christina Matys, 51, tell Woman’s Own why they took huge financial risk to get the figures they craved

Carole Wild fought back tears as her grandsons ran down to the beach to play in the rock pools. She desperately wanted to join them, but a flight of steps at the top of the cliff meant she couldn’t. At 5ft 7in, she was a size 32 and weighed more than 25st. Carol was just too big to play with them. ‘There was no way I could’ve made it down those steep steps and back up again,’ she says.

Carole had tried all kind of diets and never managed to keep the weight off. But the turning point came in June 2007, when her mum and dad, Aileen and Tony, who were divorced, died within weeks of each other. ‘It made me think of my own life. I told my husband, Barry, I couldn’t carry on as I was,’ explains Carole. I decided to take drastic measures and have a gastric bypass. The only problem was, it would cost £11,000.’ Carole, from Ewshot, Surrey, decided to use the £5,000 her parents left her in their wills and applied for a loan for another £6,000.

In November 2007, her surgeon, Shaw Somers, stapled her stomach, reducing it from the size of a melon to the size of an egg, and grafted her intestine on to her new stomach. When Carole woke up two hours later, she could only take in a few sips of water. ‘After a week in hospital, I could manage a few spoonfuls of soup and a couple of sips of tea,’ remembers Carole. ‘I lost a stone in the first few days and was losing half a stone every week.’ A year after surgery, Carole was 12st 7lb and a size 16.

‘I’d lost half my body weight and followed the doctor’s advice by exercising. But he warned me that my skin could sag. And it did, ‘Carole says. ‘I was delighted with the weight loss, but it felt like a job half done – I needed to have the excess skin removed. The operation would cost £11,500.’ Carole needed to raise the money, ‘After a lot of soul-searching with Barry, we decided to remortgage the house to pay for the procedure. It was the most practical way of getting such of money,’ she says. ‘Barry was always supportive but we both knew that if his building business didn’t make enough, we would lose the house. It was a risk we were both prepared to take. Barry said my happiness was worth any amount of cash.’

In May 2009, Carole had an entire body life, which involved surgeons cutting away an apron of skin from the front of her body and removing all the loose skin under the arms. Over a stone of excess skin was removed. But, despite weighing 11st 3lb and being a size 12-14, Carole still wasn’t entirely happy. ‘The skin between my legs was baggy and my boobs drooped down to my waist,’ she says. ‘I’d invested to finish the job.’ Last October, Carole used the remaining money from her mortgage to pay £6,500 for a breast uplift and to have the skin removed from her thighs. This time surgeons removed around 6lb of skin. ‘I had scars that ran the entire length of my body, from my knees to my groin and right round my back. I looked a bit like a patchwork quilt. But they’re fading,’ she says.

Now, after spending an incredible £29,000 in total. Caroline is a size 12 and, at 10st 12lb, couldn’t be happier with her figure. ‘I know some people may think what I’ve done is extreme. It was a lot of money, but as far as I’m concerned it’s cash well spent,’ says Carole. ‘And now I’ve got the energy to play with my six grandsons whenever I want.’

I blew our nest egg to get a body I loved

Staring drowsily at the walls in the intensive care unit, Christina Matys knew things had to change. She’d just had a heart attack at the age of 42, and two years earlier had suffered two strokes. ‘There was no doubt it was down’ to my weight,’ she admits Christina. At only 5ft 4in, she weighed 21st and wore size 26 clothes. She had always struggled with her weight and her lifestyle as landlady of the Church Stile pub in Halifax, alongside her husband Silvio, only made it worse.

‘I’d snack on chocolate, crisps and biscuits all day,’ she says. ‘And when we locked up at midnight, we’d call out for a takeaway.’ Her heart attack in September 2001 meant that Christina was eligible for gastric bypass surgery on the NHS. After the op, in 2006, she lost 12st in 12 months, taking her to a healthy 9st 7lb and size 14. But the huge folds ofexcess skin left over traumatized her. She asked the NHS for cosmetic surgery, but they refused. ‘I was desperate and I would’ve done anything,’ Christina admits. ‘We had £30,000 profit from selling the pub. It was our nest egg, but I couldn’t enjoy my life looking like this. Silvio agreed I had to reinvest the money in myself.’ Christina met with surgeon Mr Riaz in April 2007, ‘to do it all at once would have taken 15 hours of surgery,’ she explains. ‘My body wouldn’t cope. So he suggested I have the 14 procedures spaced out over two years.’ Christina had her first surgery, a breast uplift a few weeks later - and it was May 2009 by the time she was finished.

Now Christina is finally happy to see herself in the mirror. ‘I look and feel fantastic,’ she says. ‘We’ve had to cut down on our holidays, but by living carefully we’re slowly managing to top up our savings. I’d do it all again tomorrow if I had to.’